Process for making filaments and filamentous plates for storage-battery electrodes.



H. C. HUBBELL. PROCESS FOR. MAKING FILAMENTS AND FILAMENTOUS PLATES FORSTORAGEBATTEEY ELECTRODES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26, 1911.

1,088,343. Patented Feb. 24, 1914 WITH/E8858 NITE u STATES PATENTOFFICE.

FRY CROSS HUBBELL, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS FOR MAKING FILAMENTS AND FILA'MENTOUS PLATES FOR STORAGE-BAITERY ELECTRODES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

Application filefl June 26, 1911. Serial at. 635,250.

. To all whom it may concern:

"trodes. Said process in its preferred form is as follows:I aggregatelike the leaves of a book alternate layers of different mate- -rials ormetals of different solubility, such as nickel and copper. I then unitethis aggregation 'by welding, brazing or soldering, and SllbJGCt it topressure preferably in a rolling-mill to reduce the layers to film-likethickness. I then cut up the resulting sheet into strips or bars. Then Imay immediately separate the nickel layers by dissolving out theintermediate layers of copper Y and thereby release the nickel'layers inthe form of filaments; or I may first unite the bars into any desiredarrangement to make up a plate for an electrode, the arrangement of thebars preferably being side by side with their layers extending edgewiseto the faces of the plate, as in my copending ap-.'

plication, Serial No. 631,271, filed June 5.,

1911; and this being accomplished I may then dissolve out the co per toleave what I. may conveniently call a filamentous nickel plate,consisting of numerous thin nickel strips united by their ends to form aplate, said strips being arranged in close face to face parallelismdisposed edgewise to the faces of the plate.

the lines 1 of Fig. 1, and after these bars have been rearranged to forma storage To give further working details, I find that Iran userelatively thick sheets of nickel say of an inch thick alternating withsheets of copper .foil which have first been dipped ina solution otborax. In this way I pile-up a book of eight or ten or more Fig. 2 showsthis platev after it has been cut up into bars 1, as along,

sheets. I then heat them to braze the nickel sheets together, the copperacting as a sort of hard solder. This is followed by the rollingoperation by which I reduce the individual nickel sheets to a thicknessof from one-fourth to one-third of a thousandth of an inch. Then therolled sheet is cut up into strips or bars which may be about one inchlong by three-sixteenths of an inch wide and which will. of course, havethe thickness of the rolled sheets whatever that may be. I now may makeeither loose nickel filaments or my so-called filamentous nickel plate.For the former it is only necessary to dissolve out the thin copperlayers between the nickel layers by immersing the bars in cyanid,preferably of potassium. or by making them an anode in an electrolyte,consisting of a water solution of sodium and ammonium acetate containingfree ammonia as described in my aforc said copending application.

I have already described how I produce the filamentous plate and it issuiiicient here to add to that description that after the bars have beenunited in the form of a plate, I then dissolve out the copper as above.

My process is not limited to particular metals. Instead of merely nickeland copper I may add to these cobalt, and begin the process with a bookof sheets or layers of metal in the following order :-copper, cobalt,nickel, cobalt, copper, cobalt, nickel, cobalt, copper. After therolling, cutting up,uniting oft-he bars into the plate, and the solution of the copper layers, etc., I produce dirom this combination afilamentous cobalt-nickel plate wherein the cobalt on oxidation becomesthe active material covering the nickel strips. Similarly I cansubstitute for the copper in the nickel-copper book of layers, othermetals having similar difi'erences in solubility. Thus for the copper Imay substitute cadmium, tin, etc, and for the nickel I may substitutecobalt or iron, etc. Inthe case of cadmium, I may separate it from themetal of the other layers by distillation instead of solution; or I mayconvert it 'from the metal into cadmium oxid by ,heating in the air.

From the example given it will be seen that any materials can beaggregated as described, provided they are of sutiiciently dif- :terentproperties, whereby a process can be ing, or soldering metal) permittingit to flow nickel, etc.

out at places from between the nickel layers. This preferred additionconsists in providing intermediate sheets of iron or other suitablemetal which is refractory at the welding, brazing or solderingtemperature; for instance, instead of a book of sheets or layers ofmerely nickel and copper, I add sheets of iron, the order of the sheetsin building up the book being :-nickel, copper, iron, copper, nickel,copper, iron, copper, When the sheets of this book are welded together,the iron sheets being refractory keep the nickel sheets sepafated andprevent them from welding directly with each other. The result is thatthe nickel sheets remain separate and distinct and are completelyseparated the moment the copper and iron layers are eliminated. Thiselimination is effected as already described after the book of sheetsare bound together by the copper or other brazing or soldering materialand has been put through a rolling operation to reduce the thickness ofthe sheets. To free the nickel layers from the iron and copper, Iimmerse the plate in a dilute acid solution to dissolve out the iron,and then make it an anode in a cyanid or ammonium acetate solution'todissolve out the copper. However, referring to this last step 'ofdissolving out the copper, I have found a substitute electrolyte for theabove solutions which gives a more rapid solution of the copper than anyother of which I know. This substitute electrolyte is a solution ofbisodiiim ammonium phosphate maintaining an excess of ammonia in thesolution during the electrolysis. For cathode I use iron, copper ornickel to receive the deposit of copper.

' By. welding operation in the claims is meant not only strict weldingbut any other substitute operation for the purposes of this invention,such as brazing or soldering, etc.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The process of making conducting filaments or filamentous plates forstorage battery electrodes which comprises aggregating a book ofalternate layers of suitably different materials, subjecting theaggregation to pressure which reduces the materials to thinner layers,then cutting up the aggregation into elongated pieces, and subjectingthe pieces to an eliminating process effective on one set of layers butnot on the set desired to be retained to constitute the filaments. 4

2. The process of making conducting filaments or filamentous plates forstorage battery electrodes which comprises aggregating a book ofalternate layers of suitably difierent metals, subjecting theaggregation to pressure which reduces the metals to thinner layers, thencutting up the aggregation into elongated pieces, and subjecting thepieces to an eliminating process effective on one set of layers but noton the set desired to be retained to constitute the filaments.

3. The process of making conducting filaments or filamentous plates forstorage battery electrodes which comprises aggregating a book ofalternate'layers of difierent metals,

uniting the aggregation by a welding operation, subjecting it to arolling operation to reduce the metals to thinner layers, cutting up theresulting sheet into elongated pieces, and subjecting the pieces to aneliminating process effective on one set of layers but not on the setdesired to be retained to constitute the filaments. V

4. The process of making conducting filaments or lamentous plates forstorage battery electrodes which comprises aggregating abook ofalternate layers of diflerent metals,

uniting the aggregation by a welding operation, subjecting it to arolling operation to reduce the metals to thinner layers, cutting up theresulting sheet into elongated pieces, uniting said pieces into a platewith their layers directed edgewise to the faces of the plate, andsubjecting the said plate to an eliminating process effective on one setof layers but not on the set desired to be retained to constitute thefilaments of the plate.

5. The process which comprises aggregating a book of alternate layers ofsuitably different materials, subjecting the aggregation to pressurewhich reduces the materials to thinner layers, and applying aneliminating process effective on one set of layers but not on anptherset.

6. The process which comprises aggregating a book of alternate layers ofsuitably different metals, subjecting the aggregation to pressure whichreduces the metals to thinner, layers, and applying an eliminatingprocess effective on one set of layers but not on another set.

7. The process which comprises aggregating a book of alternate layers ofdifferent metals, uniting the aggregation by a welding operation,subjecting it to pressure to reduce the metals to thinner layers, andapplying an eliminating process effective on one set of layers but noton another set.

8. The process which comprises aggregating a book of sheets of the'metaldesired to be retained in the form of films, said sheets being separatedby sheets of a metal refractory to heat to keep the sheets of thedesired metal from uniting with each other during the followingoperation; uniting said sheets by heat applied thereto and to a brazingor soldering metal applied between said sheets; subjecting theaggregation to pressure to reduce the thickness of the sheets; andapplying an eliminating process ett'ective on the refractory and thebrazing or soldering metals but not on the metal desired for the films.

9. The process which comprises aggregating a book of sheets ofnickel-like meta-l, said sheets being separated by sheets of a morerefractory metal; uniting said sheets by heatapplied thereto and to abrazing or soldering metal applied between said sheets; subjecting theaggregation to pressure to reduce the thickness of the sheets; andapplying an eliminating process etfective on the refractory and brazingor soldering metals but not on the nickel-like metal desired for thefilms.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARRY CROSS HUBBELL. Witnesses VILLIAM R. BAIRD,

E. \V. SCHERR, Jr.

